


just a moment in time

by purugly



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spirit Blossom (League of Legends), F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28313133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purugly/pseuds/purugly
Summary: "What's forever anyway?"(that depends on who you ask.)
Relationships: Syndra/Akali
Kudos: 12





	just a moment in time

Akali shook her head. _Where am I?_

She certainly wasn’t at the Spirit Blossom Festival anymore, she was sure of that much.

She walked around for some time in this strange new place, but it felt like she was just going in circles. She felt a sense of uneasiness. “Man, it feels like I’ve been stuck in the same spot forever,” she muttered to herself.

“What’s forever anyway? Just a moment in time.”

Akali snapped her head in the direction of the voice. Lying back-down on a tree branch was a black-haired woman with very, very pale eyes. Her hair was adorned with a purple lotus on either side of her head, and she wore perhaps the most beautiful clothing Akali had ever seen. She wore a shawl that appeared to be aflame, but the fire didn’t burn anything it touched, and the shawl itself was translucent in color; the top was sleeveless and a lovely shade of pale lilac, while the long, skirt-like bottom of the outfit was pink. All the clothes appeared to shimmer with a rainbow light. And yet, she couldn’t possibly have been much older than Akali herself.

“Who are _you_?”

The girl seemed quite unbothered, fiddling with a leaf over her head. “Oh, I’m just a spirit. I don’t know what I’m the spirit of. The other spirits call me Syndra, but I don’t really know who I am. Such is the afterlife.”

“S-spirits? _Afterlife?!_ ” Akali felt cold all of a sudden. “Am I –“

“Dead? Maybe! I don’t know. But you don’t seem like a spirit. You seem suspiciously. . . alive.”

Akali felt like she couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, the tree was empty – had there even been a tree at all? – and Syndra’s face was very close to her own. Akali recoiled in shock.

“Mm, yes, you’re definitely alive. You don’t belong here. You should leave now.”

“You think I want to be here!? I’ve been trying to find a way out of this place, but I just keep going in circles!” Akali hadn’t noticed a comfortable-looking rock before, but there was one nearby now. She sat down on it, face buried in her knees.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. “There, there. Maybe I can help you leave. Sometimes I think that the Spirit Realm bends to my will. Like, that tree I was laying in, for example. I was walking and walking and walking and walking walking walking **walking walking** and then I wanted to rest. So I thought, well, it would be nice to lay in a nice tree. And then I was laying in a tree. And then I forgot about it, so it disappeared! So maybe I can manifest some kind of portal to getting out of here, just for you.”

Akali jumped up and threw her arms around Syndra. She thought she’d go right through her, being that Syndra was a spirit. But she was surprisingly soft, warm, and corporeal.

“Thank you. . .”

“Don’t thank me yet. Who knows if I can even do it? If I can’t, you might be stuck here forever!”

The hug felt like it lasted forever. Then, suddenly, Syndra startled.

“Azakana.”

“Aza-what?”

“A demon. Don’t be afraid.” Syndra seemed very stiff now.

Akali saw maybe the scariest-looking thing she’d ever seen before. She felt like she was stuck. Like all she could do was look at it.

But Syndra was serious. Seemingly out of nowhere, she manifested many purple orbs – everytime Akali tried to count them, it seemed like the number changed, but it was definitely between three and six.

She hurled the orbs at the monster, which made a horrible sound and shattered, turning to dust.

It felt like it was over as soon as quickly as it began, but Akali felt shaky and dizzy.

Syndra brushed a lock of Akali’s pale pink hair out of her face. “Don’t worry. It’s gone. And I think I know what direction to travel in.”

She felt safe again suddenly.

\--

It felt like they’d travelled for a very long time and yet none at all, with Syndra talking about everything and nothing. Akali was aware of the spirit’s warm, steady hand twined with her own cold, clammy one.

“You compliment me,” Syndra mused. It was a very sudden musing.

“H-huh?”

“Like morning compliments night.”

And then Syndra seemed serious again all of a sudden. _Another azakana?_ But it wasn’t that.

“I’m suddenly very aware that I’m being _selfish_. That we’ve been wandering because it’s been so long since I had company, and that I enjoy yours particularly. . . We must get to the gate.”

Akali felt her face flush.

The path they were walking on seemed very _linear_ all of a sudden, and then. . .

“Well, hello there.”

A pink-haired woman with fox ears and many tails appeared before them.

“Out of my way. I’m trying to –“

“ – help this lost soul home?”

Akali wanted to ask how she knew, but chose to cower behind Syndra instead.

“Syndra. . . you’ve forgotten who you are. And because of who you are, that is very dangerous for this place.”

“I can tell you’re intrigued. Let me remind you.” The fox-woman, now much more fox-like but still very much humanoid, touched Syndra’s forehead.

It felt like all of time and yet only a moment, but suddenly, their surroundings became much clearer. Time seemed linear again. It seemed more like an afterlife than an empty space in time.

“I’m the Spirit of Eternity. In my mortal life, I was a beautiful daughter of a noble family. I had many suitors, but I sent them on odd and strange quests that they never came back from. I was accused of intentionally leading them to their deaths. It felt like it would never end, but in an instant, I was deathly ill, and suddenly all was condolences and prayers for my well-being. The illness severed my spirit from my body – what humans call “comatose.” I was chosen to be one of this realm’s caretakers. A custodian of sorts. But I forgot who I was in the process. And now I know. I must return as well.”

Syndra’s eyes were no longer pale, but they blazed a deep purple.

“Yes, I can take you home now. I’m sure of it. It won’t be long, I promise you. We’ll go, hand in hand.”

\--

And it wasn’t. It was but forty minutes until they reached a large, golden tree, where the fox-woman met them again.

“Alright, you two, are you ready?”

“Hold on.” Syndra took a moment to manifest something in her palm, and then handed it to Akali.

It was a perfect replica of one of the lotuses in her hair.

“Something to remember me by when we return. You’ll see me again shortly, I know it.”

Akali took one of her kunai from her belt and handed it to Syndra. She accepted the lotus and put it in her pocket.

“Hand in hand?”

“Hand in hand.”

\--

And then, Akali was back at the festival.

She immediately, frantically checked her pocket, sighing in relief when she felt the lotus.

“Akali!” She heard her little brother’s voice. “There you are. Dad was wondering where you were.”

“I’m an adult, I can – hey, Kennen, wanna see a real spirit blossom?”

“Huhhhhh?”

She beckoned him over, showing him the lotus.

“No way. . .”

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need to find someone. . .”

**Author's Note:**

> whew it's been a while since i last posted. the festival is NOT set in the main universe, it's set in the spirit blossom universe.


End file.
